Brisa in Randomland
by The Unearthly Idiot
Summary: Emily has always been a good friend to Brisa, getting her out of more than one rough spot. So when Brisa loses Emily's copy of "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll, she knows she has to do anything to find it. But "anything" will involve taking a trip through her own strange wonderland full of colourful characters that curiously resemble her classmates and teachers.
1. Chapter 1

For Miss Brisa Henson on the occasion of her 18th birthday.

It was an ordinary day at Lynnwood High School. Outside, it was raining, as usual, but that didn't perturb the kids in 6th period drama class. They were preparing for their first play of the year: building sets, putting together costumes, and running lines. The theatre and its adjoining classroom were full of noise.

Brisa Henson was meant to be rehearsing with Shane, but she had said something silly that annoyed him and was now hiding to avoid being tickled. She wandered up to the booth, where her friend Emily was setting cues in the show's light plan.

'Hi, Brisa!' Emily said when Brisa entered. 'I thought you were-'

'Nope,' Brisa cut her off, sitting down next to Emily. 'What'cha up to?'

'Settin' cues,' the ginger girl answered. Somebody shouted something from the catwalks and Emily stood up, leaning out the booth window. 'What?'

'Bring up light 43!' the person shouted.

'Okay!' Emily punched some buttons. 'Light 43 up!'

'Thank you!'

'Oh!' Emily turned to Brisa. 'While I'm thinking about it, do you have that book I lent you?'

'What book?' Brisa asked, playing with her phone.

'You borrowed my copy of _Alice in Wonderland_, remember? I'd let you keep it for as long as you want, but I need it for a class, so…'

Brisa remembered having a copy of _Alice in Wonderland_, though it was a distant memory. A cold sense of panic filled her as she realized she had no idea where the book was.

'The sooner the better-'

'Booth?'

'What?'

'Light 43 out, please.'

Emily punched some more buttons. 'Light 43 is out!' She turned back to Brisa. '-so can I please have it by tomorrow or Thursday?'

Looking at Emily's hopeful face, Brisa felt terrible that she'd lost the book. Before she could think it through, however, she said, 'No problem! I'll have it for you tomorrow!' in a bright, cheery voice.

'Great! Thanks so much.' Emily turned back to the light board. 'And you can have it back as soon as I'm done. Thanks again.'

Brisa looked out the window at the activity in the theatre. 'Oops,' she said to herself.

At that moment, the catwalk door above them opened and Shane pounded down the stairs. 'Found you!' he cried. Brisa screamed and dashed out of the booth, Emily's laughter trailing after her.

_I've got to find that book,_ Brisa thought.

0—0

As you can see above, I wrote this story for a friend on her birthday. The names of people and places have been changed (for the most part). I'm not gonna lie, it makes more sense if you went to our school and know the layout. But I'm proud of this story and wanted to share. So I hope you enjoy.


	2. Chapter 2

Not too much later Brisa walked into the library, thinking that she might have left Emily's book in there. It was after school, so there weren't many students around. She approached the librarian's desk, but it was deserted.

Brisa waited a moment, but no one appeared. She leaned to her right to see into the open door of the library offices, but still saw no one.

She hesitated. Her ride didn't leave for another hour, but for how long could she stand around waiting for someone?

As she stood there, the library door clicked open and Mr. Lyons, the librarian, entered with a big stack of books. He walked over to the desk and set them down with a grunt, then saw Brisa. 'Hi. Do you need something?'

She jumped, startled. 'Oh! Uh, well… I think I left a book in here. I couldn't find it out there-' She gestured to the rest of the library- 'so I thought it might be back here somewhere.' She indicated the desk and offices.

'I need to run an errand, so…' Mr. Lyons paused, considering something. He shook his head. 'Go ahead and have a look around. I'll be back in a moment.'

'Thanks!' Brisa said. She walked around the desk and back into the offices. Mr. Lyons left, the door clicking shut behind him.

Brisa had never been in the library office before. She looked around at the old computers and shelves of books. The brown-eyed girl was trying to decide where to start when she heard a cat meow.

Confused, she whipped her head around, wondering if she'd really heard a meow when she saw a ginger cat sitting on the floor, its long tail swishing back and forth.

'Oh, hello!' Brisa exclaimed. She crouched down to its level and meowed back. It sounded surprisingly similar to the cat's.

The ginger cat blinked, then stood up and walked away.

'Hey! Where ya goin'?' Brisa waited but the cat didn't return, so she followed it around the bookcases. Turning the corner, she saw the cat sitting at the entrance to a hallway. It meowed when it saw her, then turned and walked down the hall.

Not really stopping to consider the fact that a cat was wandering freely around her school's library, Brisa followed it. The hall was long. There was a door here and there, but they were all closed. At the end of the hallway, it turned to the right. The cat waited for Brisa to catch up, then continued.

As Brisa rounded the corner, she saw that it ended abruptly in a door. The door was just slightly open, and she saw the cat's ginger tail disappear inside. She didn't really think about what she was doing; she just opened the door and was going to look inside. But she didn't get to see much more than empty blackness before she was pulled inside.

Brisa felt as though she was falling through nothingness. There were flashes of light, colours, and things. Nothing made any sense. All she could do was tuck her head and hope her landing wasn't too rough.

After an indistinguishable amount of time, Brisa suddenly hit a pile of soft fabric with a thump. Dazed, she lay there for a minute. She thought she saw a dark space above her, but it faded quickly. Was that where she had fallen through? Groaning, she shook her head to clear it and blinked. Unfortunately, that didn't' stop the lights swirling before her eyes.

The first thing Brisa noticed was that it was still dark, but not as dark as the strange place she'd fallen through. The pile of fabric felt like clothes. She could make out the shapes of objects around her, so there was some light coming from somewhere. Brisa sat up and saw a low bar of light in front of her: a door. She crawled forward. The floor felt like cool cement. She reached out and hit what felt and sounded like a wooden door; the hollow thump and shudder that promised space on the other side. Brisa felt around for a doorknob.

Finally she found a latch that undid itself easily. Not expecting it, the door swung open and Brisa fell out.

At first she was blinded by the sudden light, but then the 18-year-old saw that she was in a wide hallway, not unlike those at her school. She turned and saw that the room she'd left was full of racks of clothes- like her drama class's costume room. But the door swung shut.

'No, wait!' Brisa cried, reaching for the door. It was locked. She paused, then sat back on her feet. 'Where am I?' she wondered out loud.


	3. Chapter 3

'Halt! Who goes there?' A voice called. Brisa whipped her head around, sending her hair stinging into her eyes. To her left, two boys walked out of a doorway farther down the hall and approached her. One was taller than the other, but they both had dark hair and wore dark clothes.

The hallway light was strange and Brisa couldn't see their faces until they were right close to her. They looked very familiar.

The shorter boy was holding a broom handle, and he pointed it at Brisa's nose. 'You heard. Who are you? What are you doing in the Theatre?'

'The… Theatre?'

'Answer the question!' the taller boy said sharply.

'Um… I'm Brisa Henson! I walked down a hallway in the library and through a door which I fell down and I landed in the costume room and then I fell out the door and now I'm here?'

The boys glanced at each other. The shorter one didn't lower his broomstick. 'Should we take her to the Queen?'

'The Queen's busy, Nick.'

'So?'

The older boy thought about it. 'That's true. C'mon!' He turned back to Brisa. 'You there, Miss Henson! Follow us, please.'

'Uh, okay.' The broom handle still pointed at her face, Brisa slowly stood up.

'Let's go.' Snapping his fingers, the first boy set off. Being prodded along by the broomstick, Brisa followed. _What is going on?_ she thought.

They went through the door the boys had come from. The room was warm and brightly lit. Music played and the dozens of young people inside all chatted animatedly. They had wild hair, colorful makeup, and strange costumes, and seemed to be getting ready for something.

As Brisa was led through the room, the conversation didn't cease but certainly became quieter. She gazed around at their faces. Despite their extraordinary costumes, each and every one looked very familiar.

'What've you caught there?' a tall, skinny boy with crazy blonde hair asked Brisa's escorts. He laughed.

One of the people in particular caught Brisa's eye. He had a black fedora and trenchcoat. Of everyone, he looked the most normal.

'We don't know yet,' the younger boy said from behind her. 'That's why we're taking her to the Queen.'

'Ooh,' said the blonde boy in a taunting voice. He and his much shorter, brown-haired companion snickered and went back to drawing crude things on the wall.

The boys led Brisa through two more doors and then came into a theatre. It was completely dark, except for a brightly lit stage. There was nothing and no one on the stage, and no light beyond it.

Here, they stopped.

A voice came from nowhere. It was haughty and accented. 'What do you want? I'm busy.'

'We've found a girl, Your Majesty,' the older boy called. 'She's definitely not from around here, yet her explanation as to how she came here makes no sense.'

'We thought it'd be best if you decided what to do with her,' the other boy added.

There was a silence, as if the voice- presumably this Queen the boys spoke of- was thinking it over. 'All right, fine,' she finally said. 'But make it quick.'

'Walk forward!' One of the boys commanded. Brisa saw the broomstick dance around in the dark.

'Huh?'

'Go on.'

'Um… 'Kay.' Cautiously Brisa walked onto the stage. She looked out into the audience, but besides the lights above her that lit the stage, all was still dark. 'Um, hello?'

'Who are you? Where do you come from, and what is your business in the Theatre?'

_This is incredibly strange,_ Brisa thought. _Am I dreaming?_ 'I'm Brisa Henson. I'm a senior at Lynnwood High School. I don't… I don't know my business here. I came here by accident.'

'Accident? Accident how?'

'Well, um…' Brisa hesitated. 'I was in the library looking for a book when I saw a cat. I followed it, and it led me through a door. In the door was…' She tried to think of how to describe it. '…Nothing. And I fell. When I landed, I was in the costume room out there. These guys found me and brought me here.'

'Hm…' The Queen, wherever in the dark she was, considered Brisa's story. But before she could come to a decision, another voice came out of the dark. 'Your Highness?' It was a girl. 'It's nearly time for the Warming-Up.'

'Oh, shoot. Well…' The Queen paused, then called, 'Ulkes!'

'We're still here, ma'am!' called one of the boys from the dark.

'Go get the Cast. This can wait.'

There was a crash as the door opened and closed, the Ulke boys having gone to retrieve the Cast.

Suddenly, from the audience came the Queen. She had a royal costume and shiny crown, and looked incredibly familiar. Realization hit Brisa like a freight train. 'Ms Pereira?' she exclaimed, jaw dropping open.

The Queen, who looked exactly like her drama teacher, looked down her nose at Brisa. 'I am the Drama Queen, ruler of Randomland. This is my Theatre, and I am very busy. So please stay out of the way until I can deal with you. All right?'

Brisa was completely confused. 'Okay…'

The door opened again, and the wildly dressed people from the other room poured in. They faced their Queen, gathering around Brisa like she wasn't there. Looking around at their faces, Brisa realized that the Cast was made up of people who looked like members of her drama class. Multiple generations of LHS drama kids were there; Brisa recognized students from all her years and others she knew to be older siblings of the kids she was in it with now, who'd graduated long before she entered high school.


End file.
